Automatic behavior is supposedly underlain by the unintentional retrieval of processing episodes, which are stored during the repeated overt practice of a task or activity. In the present study, we investigated whether covertly practicing a task (e.g., repeatedly imagining responding to a stimulus) also leads to the storage of processing episodes and thus to automatic behavior. Participants first either responded overtly or covertly to stimuli according to a first categorization task in a practice phase. We then measured the presence of automatic response-congruency effects in a subsequent test phase that involved a different categorization task but the same stimuli and responses. Our results indicate that covert practice can lead to a response-congruency effect. We conclude that covert practice can lead to automatic behavior and discuss the different components of covert practice, such as motor imagery, visual imagery, and inner speech, that contribute to the formation of processing episodes in memory.

据推测，自动行为的背后是无意中提取的处理情节，这些情节是在任务或活动的重复公开练习期间存储的。在本研究中，我们调查了秘密练习一项任务（例如，反复想象对刺激做出反应）是否也会导致处理事件的存储，从而导致自动行为。参与者首先根据练习阶段的第一个分类任务对刺激做出公开或隐蔽的反应。然后，我们在随后的测试阶段测量了自动响应一致性效应的存在，该阶段涉及不同的分类任务，但具有相同的刺激和响应。我们的结果表明，隐蔽练习会导致响应一致性效应。